George W. Bush is leaving the country for the first time as president today, traveling to Mexico to meet President Vincente Fox and kick off the new administration’s foreign-policy campaign.Bush’s trip south places emphasis on a strong economy, said James McCormick, chairman of the political science department.”Bush chose Mexico because of his close relationship with Fox,” McCormick said. “I think that Bush wants to stress the political and economical importance of Mexico, especially with the NAFTA agreement.”He said the trip also establishes a contrast between Bush and his predecessor in office.”I also think this trip is symbolically important, because the one thing that was missed with the Clinton administration was the lack of concentration in Latin America,” McCormick said.This is not the first meeting between the two leaders, however. When he was governor of Texas, Bush met several times with Fox, he said.During his campaign for presidency, Bush was criticized for his lack of foreign-policy knowledge, said Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science.”Foreign policy was a campaign issue,” he said. “Bill Clinton didn’t have a foreign policy as governor of Arkansas, but no one questioned him because he studied in England.”Bush may not have studied abroad, and he has not been particularly involved in foreign policy, Schmidt said, but he has dealt with Mexico and can rely on the knowledge and advice of his Cabinet.”Presidents don’t know everything,” he said. “They surround themselves with people who know what they don’t. Bush has done this with Colin Powell, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice.”While Bush may not have a lot of experience or expertise in foreign policy, McCormick said, his approach differs from Clinton’s foreign policy by putting less emphasis on intervening in the governments of other countries.”The biggest difference between Clinton and Bush is going to be more focus on military and power issues and a movement away from economic issues and democratic reform,” he said. “The Bush administration would like to set up the United States as a model view for other countries rather than forcing it on countries.”During the Clinton administration, an area of concern was the Middle East, but McCormick predicted less U.S. involvement in the conflicts.”In the short term, there is going to [be a] pull back in the Middle East, but Powell’s first trip is to there,” he said. “I see a cooling off among the parties in the Middle East and less hands-on involvement as in the Clinton administration.”